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Rhetorical Analysis Of The Singer Solution To World Poverty

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Did you know that right now, you are contributing to the deaths of millions of children worldwide? That is the claim made by philosopher Peter Singer in his essay entitled The Singer Solution to World Poverty, published in The New York Times on September 5, 1999. Singer is a utilitarian philosopher which, as he defines it in this essay, “is one who judges whether acts are right or wrong by their consequences” (328). In a time of increasing consumerism, he writes this essay for the citizens of first world countries, specifically Americans, whom he believes need to take a greater role in ending world poverty. Singer effectively convinces his audience using emotions, simple logic, and an engaging writing style that to be morally perfect, we have to give up everything beyond our necessities to the less fortunate. The Singer Solution to World Poverty argues that to be perfectly moral, we should give all of our extra income to those in need. Singer provides a story from another philosopher named Peter Unger about a man named Bob who has to choose between the life of a child and his million dollar Bugatti. Bob end up choosing his Bugatti and lets the child die. He cites other examples such as expensive TVs and …show more content…

His simple and straightforward logic is strong enough to fend off any argument against not giving and his engaging writing style helps the reader feel personally attached to the issue. Although anyone can be convinced of what is right and what is wrong, is Singer actually able to make Americans and citizens of other well-off nations give up on all their luxuries and give them all away to the poor? As Singer wrote in the essay, human nature just makes it a fact that not everyone will donate. But Singer hopes that his essay will cause at least some people to take action and try and help the

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